Where Do We Go From Here?
by Neurotic-Idealist
Summary: Aspen O'Dell is confronting the reality of divorce and faces a lonely road ahead, but then she finds that one of her co-workers is in a similar situation.


**Just a little oneshot that I had in mind. I might continue it at some point.**

 **Aspen belongs to me. Everyone else belongs to themselves.**

* * *

Aspen O'Dell looked down at the large brown envelope that had just hit her doormat. She knew without opening it what would be inside. Picking up the envelope and tearing it open the dark haired woman found several sheets of paper, all bearing an official header and neatly connected by a couple of staples. It was the day she had been both dreading and looking forward to for different reasons.

Today she had received her divorce papers.

She had been the one to ask for a divorce in the first place. Three months ago things had fallen apart when Aspen had walked into their bedroom to find her husband in bed with another woman. To make things worse, the other woman was one of her co-workers. Leah Van Dale, known by her WWE moniker of Carmella, the 'Princess of Staten Island'.

Her husband's infidelity came as a complete shock to Aspen. She had met him five years ago when she was recovering from a knee injury that she had obtained while wrestling in NXT. Ryan was a sports physio and one of his colleagues had been in charge of Aspen's recovery. One day he had walked over and introduced himself before asking her on a date, telling her that he was going to marry her someday. Three years later that prediction came true.

Their wedding was an intimate affair with an outdoor ceremony and only fifty or so guests. After the wedding the couple had lived in a modest house in Chicago, close to travel links for their work commitments. Their marriage had been plain sailing as far as Aspen was concerned.

And now it was coming to an end.

* * *

Before too long Tuesday rolled around, which meant heading to the arena for Smackdown Live. Aspen was due to compete in a tag team match that night, teaming with Naomi against the heel team of Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, aka The IIconics.

Upon arriving at the arena the Chicago native headed straight to the women's locker room to change into her ring gear. She knew that her match was early on the card, and she liked to spend a good twenty minutes beforehand warming up and getting her mind on the match. The brunette woman found the room empty, dropping her bag onto the nearest bench and undressing before pulling on her ring attire, which comprised of purple halter-neck top and high waisted shorts, along with black elbow and kneepads, as well as shiny black wrestling boots.

Just as she was fixing her dark brown hair, which was always in her usual shoulder length bob, the door of the locker room opened and in walked Leah, 'the other woman'. The blonde was dressed in a black and gold tracksuit with a matching baseball cap and a pair of gold sneakers. She was carrying the Smackdown Women's title belt on her shoulder. She looked surprised to see the brunette there.

"Aspen," the blonde addressed her, "I didn't know you'd be here tonight."

"Well, I still have a job, even if I no longer have a home or a husband."

"Look, I want you to know how sorry I am."

"Sorry? Sorry doesn't fix anything. It doesn't mean shit coming from you either!"

"Please, just give me a chance to explain." Leah pleaded.

"What's there to explain? You knew he was married, didn't you? Knew that he was my husband?"

"He told me that you were over, I swear."

"Well guess what? He lied!" the Chicago native got in the blonde's face.

"Aspen, I mean it," the woman known as Carmella pleaded, "I never meant to hurt you."

"Save it for someone who cares." the brunette scoffed as she exited the locker room.

* * *

It was getting late but Aspen had nowhere to be, except her boring hotel room, so she decided to hang around backstage for a while after showering and putting on some clean clothing. She had always been a bit of a tomboy so her usual style was jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers, sometimes with a hoodie if the weather was a little colder. She had often worn one of Ryan's hoodies when she was the road since they were baggy and smelled of his cologne, but now she had reverted to wearing one of her own from her NXT days.

She'd been wandering the backstage for a while and decided to see if there was anybody hanging around in the catering area. It looked empty upon first glance. Suddenly sensing a presence in the far corner, the brunette looked in that direction and recognised that it was Allen Jones, known to wrestling fans the world over as 'The Phenomenal' AJ Styles. He was sitting one of the tables and staring down at something there.

"Hi AJ, what's up?" she asked.

The Georgia native looked up from the table. He obviously hadn't expected to see anybody in catering at such a late hour.

"Just tryin' to find it in me to sign these divorce papers." he sighed.

The Chicago native took a seat at the table and pulled her own papers from her bag.

"Ditto."

"You're gettin' a divorce?"

Aspen nodded, "I'm not staying with a man who cheats on me, especially with one of my co-workers."

"Yeah, I heard about that." the Phenomenal one reached up and twisted his baseball cap backwards.

"Everybody did," the Chicago native shrugged, "Although that's on me. I kind of cussed her out backstage.

"Hey, I'd be pissed too." the Georgia native shrugged.

"Well I take it your grounds for divorce aren't adultery?"

"Irreconcilable differences," he replied, "The biggest thing was that I wanted kids and she didn't."

"And you couldn't get past that?"

"No. As much as I love my wife, I want a family. I wanna be a dad."

Aspen nodded, looking down at her own unsigned divorce papers.

"Can I ask you somethin'?" AJ enquired.

"Sure."

"If you want the divorce then why are you finding it so difficult to sign the papers?"

"I guess it's harder than I thought," Aspen frowned, "Not giving up the man but the dream."

AJ frowned, "The dream?"

"That perfect idea of marriage. I wanted the whole package; a house, kids, growing old together."

"Doesn't mean that you can't have that with somebody else." the Georgia native pointed out.

"You're right," she nodded, "Let's get this over with."

Aspen looked down at the papers in front of her before fishing a pen out of her handbag and scribbling her signature across the places where her lawyer had indicated she needed to sign.

"Now you." she handed the pen to AJ.

"The beginning of the end." the Phenomenal one sighed as he signed the papers with a flourish.

"Or is it the end of the beginning?" Aspen shrugged.

* * *

 **Would anyone be interested if I continued this in future? Review!**


End file.
